Stay Northumbria eyeing 25% growth in next 12 months

The Seahouses-based holiday lettings firm say growth has come in addition to its recent acquisition of former rival, Northumberland Cottages

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Jackie Forsyth and Lisa Pearson (front) with the full Stay Northumbria team

Holiday home letting firm Stay Northumbria is forecasting 25% growth in the next 12 months, fuelled by the acquisition of its rival, Northumberland Cottages.

The Seahouses-based, family-run firm says its own business has grown in addition to the acquisition in April.

Stay Northumbria have diversified into management, maintenance and cleaning services for other cottage owners.

The move has led them to recruit Alan Herbertson, already known to many locally as Herbie, who has looked after holiday lets for a number of years.

Owner director, Jackie Forsyth, said: “We are a family run business, based in the heart of the properties we represent with an international and national customer and owner client base.

“Quality, service and customer care is at the heart at everything we do. To make sure that both the property owners and the holidaymakers have a first class experience with us, we have decided to bring as many of our services as is practical, in-house with the exception of anything really specialist like gas and electricity, for which we employ local esteemed tradespeople.

“The purchase of Northumberland Cottages was a strategic move for us and increased our portfolio almost two fold. We now have a dedicated team of eight people and are currently recruiting more.”

The company has also made substantial investment into the IT structure and websites, as 65% of all bookings come through this route, with the rest happening over the phone.

General manager Lisa Pearson added: “We believe that technology is the way forward for our industry and so we have been focusing on our online booking systems and will invest further in the websites in the coming months.

“We are, of course, also on the end of the phone and a lot of our property owners and holidaymakers like that we are all local and have an in-depth knowledge of the area, so we are able to offer tourist information too.”